Camera recommendations?

[Coldgunner]

With Railfest around the corner, our normal point and shoot camera is not up to the job. I suffer from an incredibly unsteady hand so I require optical image stabilisation. I can't afford much at the moment and I am aiming around the £100 mark. Good images are of course a must, but the image stabilisation is absolutely critical. I might be able to push a little more out of my budget for the right camera, but not much.

 

Any help and advice is greatly appreciated, it'd be a shame to go to Railfest and not get some cracking shots.

[sagaguy]

Have a look at these,most of them seem to have I/S

 

http://www.whatdigitalcamera.com/equipment/advice/383625/top-5-budget-compact-cameras-for-less-than-100.html

 

Ray.

[shortliner]

As someone who also suffers from "wobbly hands" syndrome - this is my solution, which works for me

Item number: 300591489838 poaaibly worth a look for you

[RogerBfastlane]

With Railfest around the corner, our normal point and shoot camera is not up to the job. I suffer from an incredibly unsteady hand so I require optical image stabilisation. I can't afford much at the moment and I am aiming around the £100 mark. Good images are of course a must, but the image stabilisation is absolutely critical. I might be able to push a little more out of my budget for the right camera, but not much.

 

Any help and advice is greatly appreciated, it'd be a shame to go to Railfest and not get some cracking shots.

 

I have long been a Fuji fan and if you go to the Fujifilm refurb site you can get a brilliant bargain for less than most secondhand cameras. Checkout the specs but just about all have image stabilisation HD video (well 720p anyway), >/=14Mp and a decent zoom for sub-£100. The advantage of a refurb is that anything that could go wrong probably has and it has been fixed - with a warranty - and the price is substantially lower than new so you can get a higher quality model. Any of the S series bridge (mini DSLR style with an 18x zoom lens) for £85 is a bargain. The lenses on these are bigger and zoom physically longer than a compact so they focus more accurately and with less optical compromises than a pocket zoom camera - if you don't mind the larger size. Still much smaller than a true DSLR though. The other advantage of the S series is that they have a VIEWFINDER! I find that his is the ONLY way to see what is going on 99% of the time outside in normal daylight/sunshine and enables much better framing than pointing vaguely in the direction of the subject matter and hoping that the autofocus has snapped onto the right part of the image that you want to take.

[bluebottle]

Any of the current big name brand cameras are capable of excellent results, but of course you need to go along to the local Jessops or other well-stocked dealer and ask to handle them - particularly if you have a problem with camera shake. The IS helps a lot of course, but you need a camera that feels right in your hands. You can then check prices on the Internet, but give your dealer a chance to offer a competitive price or some extras.

Not all layouts at exhibitions are well-illuminated, and sometimes you have to compromise between lower ISO numbers with slower shutter speeds, giving less noisy but less sharp images and higher ISO with faster shutter speeds giving noisier but sharper images. If the light is poor, I'd rather go for the latter and use a basic photo- processing program to clean up the images (apologies if this is all old hat to you).

I hope you enjoy Railfest and get some good pictures to share with the rest of us!

[Katier]

£100 really is low and makes things awkward as many features that help with 'shaky hands' aren't available or aren't of high enough quality. (for example shoot at 500/th of a second and shaky hands shouldn't be an issue - but if the hardware isn't up to it then you can't do it)

 

Personally I'd be looking at the second hand market, at London Camera Exchange (of which there are branches nationwide) they have a LOT of bridge cameras in the sub £100 market, some of which I am sure would be more than up to the job.

 

The Panasonic Lumix FZ8 jumps out as a potential option, the image size is a bit low but nothing to worry about (anything over 6mp is plenty for normal users as it can print very well at A3 size, so 8mp is ample).

[Rumblestripe]

The best cure for "wobbly hands" is a fast lens or a support. Optical stabilisation is good but only to a certain extent. Assuming you don't want to carry a tripod around with you how about a walking stick that doubles as a monopod? http://www.7dayshop....ducts_id=109300 it looks like a hiking stick rather than a mobility aid (if you are sensitive about such things) you can also get little bendy tripod things or my favourite a bean bag. It screws into the tripod mount socket on your camera and you just hold it against something stable, weighs next to nothing.

 

The other thing is to learn how to hold your camera and how to stand. Create a stable platform by standing with your feet shoulder width apart, assuming you are right handed take half a step forward with your left foot and twist your right foot to a 45 degree angle then slightly bend your knees, this is a stable stance as practiced in martial arts. Now hold your camera with your elbows against your body, (this where the old optical viewfinder helped as this was a more natural position), lastly as you are about to take the picture exhale fully and hold your breath then GENTLY press the shutter release. (This is the technique used by snipers!). One thing that a digital camera allows you is plenty of practice! Have a go, see if it helps. The other thing is check your pictures as you take them and take lots.

[Coldgunner]

Good call on the Fuji refurbs, looks like just the job. Will order one this weekend, got my eyes on the S2950. Also found 10% off voucher!

[colin penfold]

My wife and I have Pentax K100d digital SLRs. These are fitted with stability technology to help overcome shake issues but more importantly are built like old style SLRs so have a lovely weighty solid feel which helps you to hold it steady. Even second hand might stretch your budget a quick google found this one at £175 ono http://compare.ebay.co.uk/like/270977829730?var=lv&ltyp=AllFixedPriceItemTypes&var=sbar&cbt=y

[Katier]

I looked at suggesting the K100D but as you found out they aren't cheap.. which probably is a fair reflection on their quality.

 

I only went from k100 to k200 due to needing the higher resolution for the A2 work I was doing.

[Rumblestripe]

Here's an article with illustrations to show you how to stand and other tips for shake free photography.

 

http://blog.muddyboots.org/2009/04/avoiding-blur-due-to-camera-shake.html

 

Cheaper than buying a new camera (when the problem may be you, not the kit!)

[Dave47549]

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[Coldgunner]

Thanks for the advice. I went for the S2950, which should arrive tomorrow. My shaking is due to various twitching I suffer with so stance doesn't help. I found leaning against a pole (the street furniture, not eastern europeans) to help a lot, but does entirely fix the issue.

 

Will see how I get on with the S2950.

[Coldgunner]

Thanks for the advice. I went for the S2950, which should arrive tomorrow. My shaking is due to various twitching I suffer with so stance doesn't help. I found leaning against a pole (the street furniture, not eastern europeans) to help a lot, but does entirely fix the issue.

 

Will see how I get on with the S2950.